Techniques for Measurement Gap (MG) Configuration with Bandwidth Part (BWP)

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe methods, apparatus, storage media, and systems for configuring and utilizing measurement gaps (MGs) based on bandwidth parts (BWPs) in intra-frequency measurements in networks involving new radio (NR). Various embodiments describe how to utilize (or not utilize) one or more configured MGs so that user equipment (UE) and / or access nodes (AN) can improve throughput performance, network efficiency, and other efficiencies. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 732,507, filed on September 17, 2018, entitled “Measurement Gap (MG) Configuration During Bandwidth Part (BWP)”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of wireless communication technology. Background Art

[0004] The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the present disclosure. The work of the inventors disclosed herein, to the extent described in this background section, and in all aspects of the description that may not qualify as prior art at the time of filing, is not explicitly or implicitly admitted as prior art to the present disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the methods described in this section are not prior art to the claims of the present disclosure and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.

[0005] Various fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) related to communications and / or networks have been developed in a wide frequency range, such as sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave). When the active BWP is switched in radio resource management (RRM) to interrupt the intra-frequency measurement, the existing intra-frequency measurement may always configure the measurement gap (MG) because the bandwidth part (BWP) switching is relatively fast compared to the MG reconfiguration. This may affect the radio resource management (RRM) efficiency with respect to the UE or the network. In this regard, a new solution is needed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The embodiment will be more easily understood by the following specific implementation in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate this description, similar reference numerals represent similar structural elements. In each figure of the accompanying drawings, the embodiment is shown by way of example and not limitation.

[0007] Figure 1 An example of a network including a user equipment (UE) and an access node (AN) in a wireless network according to various embodiments is schematically illustrated.

[0008] Figure 2 Example components of an apparatus according to various embodiments are shown.

[0009] Figure 3AAn exemplary radio frequency front end (RFFE) combining a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFFE and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) according to some embodiments is shown. Figure 3B Alternative RFFEs according to various embodiments are shown.

[0010] Figure 4 An example of switching a BWP during intra-frequency measurements shown in both the time and frequency domains is shown in accordance with various embodiments.

[0011] Figure 5 Exemplary SSB-based intra-frequency measurements in a channel with multiple BWPs are shown in accordance with various embodiments.

[0012] Fig. 6A An operational flow / algorithm structure is shown according to various embodiments, which facilitates the process of configuring and utilizing a MG based on a BWP in intra-frequency measurements from a UE perspective. Figure 6B An operational flow / algorithm structure is shown according to various embodiments, which facilitates the process of configuring and utilizing MG based on BWP in intra-frequency measurements from the perspective of an AN.

[0013] Figure 7 An exemplary interface of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is shown.

[0014] Figure 8 Hardware resources according to some embodiments are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] In the following specific embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the present invention, wherein like numbers represent like parts throughout the accompanying drawings, and wherein practicable embodiments are shown by way of example. It should be understood that other embodiments may be used and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following specific embodiments will not have a limiting meaning.

[0016] Various operations can be described in sequence as multiple discrete actions or operations in a manner that is most helpful for understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be understood to imply that these operations must rely on the order. Specifically, these operations cannot be performed in the order presented. The operations can be performed in a different order from the described embodiment. In additional embodiments, various additional operations can be performed and / or the described operations can be omitted.

[0017] For purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "A or B" and "A and / or B" mean (A), (B), or (A and B). For purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "A, B or C" and "A, B and / or C" mean (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

[0018] The description may use the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in multiple embodiments," which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. In addition, the terms "comprising," "including," "having," etc. used with the embodiments of the present disclosure are synonymous.

[0019] As used herein, the term "circuit" may refer to an integrated circuit (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), a discrete circuit, a combinational logic circuit, a system on a chip (SOC), a portion of a packaged system (SiP), or any combination thereof that provides the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware modules to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuit may include a logic component that may operate at least partially in hardware.

[0020] Various frequency bands below 6 GHz exist in 4G LTE networks. In NR, Frequency Range 1 (FR1) overlaps and extends 4G LTE frequencies, including various bands from 450 MHz to 6,000 MHz, which are often referred to as NR sub-6 GHz. NR also includes Frequency Range 2 (FR2) covering from 24,250 MHz to 52,600 MHz, which is often referred to as millimeter wave, even though strictly speaking millimeter wave frequencies may start at 30 GHz. In this article, FR1 / FR2 and sub-6 GHz (below 6 GHz) / mmWave pairs are used interchangeably.

[0021] Multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) may involve multiple receive (Rx) / transmit (Tx) UEs that may be configured to utilize radio resources provided by two different schedulers in two different nodes connected via a non-ideal backhaul, one scheduler providing Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) access and the other scheduler providing NR access. One scheduler is located in a master node (MN) and the other scheduler is located in a secondary node (SN). The MN and SN are connected via a network interface, and at least the MN is connected to a core network.

[0022] MR-DC may include E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) or NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity (NGEN-DC). In EN-DC communication, the UE may be connected to one evolved Node B (eNB) acting as an MN and one en-Next Generation Node B (gNB) acting as an SN. The eNB is connected to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and the en-gNB is connected to the eNB. The en-gNB may be a node that provides new radio (NR) user plane and control plane protocol termination to the UE and acts as an SN in EN-DC.

[0023] The measurement gap configuration repeatedly configures the gap period so that the UE can use the configured period for non-data load, such as cell measurement. The term "measurement" herein refers to one or more measurements involving non-data load between the UE and the network. The measurements can be performed relative to one or more synchronization signals (SS) including one or more SS blocks (SSBs). The UE can use the measurement gap to identify and measure intra-frequency cells, intra-frequency cells and / or inter-RAT E-UTRAN cells. During the configured MG period, the UE may not be expected to utilize the serving cell to transmit or receive data, or perform similar activities.

[0024] The MG configuration may correspond to one or more MG modes on which the UE's operation may be based. These operations may include identifying and measuring cells in the network, as well as other non-data operations. The UE may be configured with a MG when operating at any frequency in FR1 or FR2. Such a measurement gap configuration may be referred to as a UE gap or a per-UE gap.

[0025] Note that the terms “measurement gap (MG)” and “gap” may be used interchangeably throughout the present disclosure, and the terms “UE gap”, “per UE gap”, “UE MG”, “per UE MG” may be used interchangeably throughout the present disclosure.

[0026] In some cases, the UE may be configured with more than one measurement gap according to the different frequencies in which the UE may operate. For example, the UE may comply with corresponding measurement gaps when operating at FR1 and FR2 to accommodate different operations in different frequency ranges. However, the UE may activate or use one MG and / or MG mode at any given time. This may affect the UE and / or network data processing efficiency. Figure 4 A detailed example is shown. Therefore, if the UE can indicate its capability to support multiple MGs and the network can configure one or more MGs accordingly, it can improve UE and / or network efficiency.

[0027] Note that the terms "FR1 gap", "per FR1 gap", "FR1 MG", "per FR1 MG" are used interchangeably throughout the present disclosure, and the terms "FR2 gap", "per FR2 gap", "FR2 MG", "per FR2 MG" are used interchangeably throughout the present disclosure. FR1 gap and FR2 gap may be collectively referred to as FR gaps.

[0028] In intra-frequency measurements under existing NR RRM, the MG may be configured to the UE regardless of whether the SSB is in an active BWP or an inactive BWP. This may have an adverse impact on the data throughput performance of the UE and the network. Conventionally, once the UE and the network are configured with G, they may have to use the configured MG, which means that, for example, data activity may stop generating SSB measurements. Figure 4 and other figures herein show further details.

[0029] Embodiments described herein may include, for example, devices, methods, and storage media for configuring and utilizing (or not utilizing) one or more measurement gaps in a BWP switching event during intra-frequency measurements. This implementation may improve UE and / or network efficiency and allow the UE to perform measurements without eliminating unnecessary throughput degradation.

[0030] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless network 100 (hereinafter referred to as "network 100") according to various embodiments of the present invention is schematically illustrated. Network 100 may include UE 105 in wireless communication with AN 110. In some embodiments, network 100 may be an NR SA network. UE 105 may be configured to connect to AN 110, for example, to be communicatively coupled. In this example, connection 112 is shown as an air interface to achieve communicatively coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a 5GNR protocol operating at millimeter wave and below 6 GHz, a global system for mobile communications (GSM) protocol, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a push-to-talk (PTT) protocol, etc.

[0031] UE 105 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a personal data assistant (PDA), a pager, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a wireless handheld terminal, a customer premises equipment (CPE), a fixed wireless access (FWA) device, a vehicle-mounted UE, or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface. In some embodiments, UE 105 may include an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based services (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communications, a sensor network, or an IoT network using technologies such as narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M), or machine type communications (MTC). The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The NB-IoT / MTC network describes interconnected NB-IoT / MTC UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with ephemeral connections. NB-IoT / MTC UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, location-related services, etc.).

[0032] AN 110 may initiate or terminate connection 112. AN 110 may be referred to as a base station (BS), a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation Node B (gNB or ng-gNB), an NG-RAN node, a cell, a serving cell, a neighbor cell, etc., and may include a ground station (e.g., a terrestrial access point) or a satellite station that provides coverage in a geographic area.

[0033] AN 110 may be the first point of contact for UE 105. In some embodiments, AN 110 may fulfill various logical functions including, but not limited to, functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0034] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmission from AN 110 to UE 105, while uplink transmission may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, such time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements. In the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can be currently allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0035] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 105. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UE 105 about the transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 105 within the cell) may be performed at the AN 110 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 105. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) the UE 105.

[0036] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into four tuples, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, called resource element groups (REGs). Four orthogonal phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH.

[0037] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (ePDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) may be used to transmit ePDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, referred to as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). In some cases, ECCEs may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0038] like Figure 1 As shown, UE 105 may include millimeter wave communication circuits grouped according to functions. The circuits shown here are for illustrative purposes, and UE 105 may include other circuits shown in Figure 3. UE 105 may include protocol processing circuits 115, which may implement one or more layer operations related to medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC), and non-access stratum (NAS). Protocol processing circuits 115 may include one or more processing cores (not shown) for executing instructions and one or more memory structures (not shown) for storing program and data information.

[0039] The UE 105 may also include digital baseband circuitry 125, which may implement physical layer (PHY) functions, including one or more of the following: HARQ functions, scrambling and / or descrambling, encoding and / or decoding, layer mapping and / or demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol and / or bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding and / or decoding, which may include space-time, space-frequency or space coding, reference signal generation and / or detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation and / or detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and one or more of other related functions.

[0040] UE 105 may also include transmit circuitry 135 , receive circuitry 145 , radio frequency (RF) circuitry 155 , and an RF front end (RFFE) 165 , which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 175 .

[0041] In some embodiments, the RF circuit 155 may include multiple parallel RF chains or branches for one or more of transmit or receive functions; each chain or branch may be coupled to an antenna panel 175 .

[0042] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuit 115 may include one or more instances of control circuits (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit 125 (or simply referred to as "baseband circuit 125"), the transmit circuit 135, the receive circuit 145, the RF circuit 155, the RFFE 165, and one or more antenna panels 175.

[0043] UE reception may be established by and via one or more antenna panels 175, RFFE 165, RF circuitry 155, receive circuitry 145, digital baseband circuitry 125, and protocol processing circuitry 115. One or more antenna panels 175 may receive transmissions from AN 110 via receive beamforming signals received by multiple antennas / antenna elements of one or more antenna panels 175. More details on the UE 105 architecture are provided in Figure 2 , 3 and 6. Transmissions from AN 110 may be transmit beamformed by the antenna of AN 110. In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 125 may include both transmit circuitry 135 and receive circuitry 145. In other embodiments, baseband circuitry 125 may be implemented in separate chips (e.g., one chip including transmit circuitry 135 and another chip including receive circuitry 145) or modules.

[0044] Similar to UE 105, AN 110 may include mmWave / sub-mmWave communication circuits grouped according to functions. AN 110 may include protocol processing circuits 120, digital baseband circuits 130 (or simply “baseband circuits 130”), transmit circuits 140, receive circuits 150, RF circuits 160, RFFE 170, and one or more antenna panels 180.

[0045] Cell transmission can be established by and via the protocol processing circuit 120, the digital baseband circuit 130, the transmission circuit 140, the RF circuit 160, the RFFE 170, and one or more antenna panels 180. The one or more antenna panels 180 can transmit signals by forming a transmit beam. FIG. 3 also shows details about the RFFE 170 and the antenna panel 180.

[0046] Figure 2 2 shows example components of an apparatus 200 according to some embodiments. Figure 1 compared to, Figure 2 Exemplary components of UE 105 or AN 110 are shown from the perspective of receiving and / or transmitting functions, and may not include Figure 1All components described in . In some embodiments, at least as shown in the figure, the device 200 may include application circuit 202, baseband circuit 204, RF circuit 206, RFFE circuit 208 and multiple antennas 210 at the same time. In some embodiments, baseband circuit 204 may be similar to baseband circuit 125 and substantially interchangeable. Multiple antennas 210 may constitute one or more antenna panels for beamforming. The components of the illustrated device 200 may be included in a UE or AN. In some embodiments, the device 200 may include fewer elements (for example, the cell may not utilize application circuit 202, but include a processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, the device 200 may include additional elements, such as memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (for example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementation).

[0047] The application circuit 202 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 202 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). These processors may be coupled to or may include memory / storage devices, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage devices to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 200. In some embodiments, the processors of the application circuit 202 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0048] The baseband circuit 204 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may be similar to the baseband circuit 125 and the baseband circuit 130 and may be substantially interchangeable. The baseband circuit 204 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic components to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 206 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 206. The baseband circuit 204 may interact with the application circuit 202 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 206. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 204A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 204B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 204C, or other baseband processors 204D of other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuit 204 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 204A-D) may handle various radio control functions that can communicate with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 206. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 204A-204D may be included in a module stored in the memory 204G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 204E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 204 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 204 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments.

[0049] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 204F. The audio DSP 204F may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 204 and the application circuit 202 may be implemented together, such as, for example, on a SOC.

[0050] In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may support communications with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 204 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0051] RF circuitry 206 may communicate with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 206 may include one or more switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuitry 206 may include receiver circuitry 206A, which may include circuitry for down-converting RF signals received from RFFE circuitry 208 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuitry 204. RF circuitry 206 may also include transmitter circuitry 206B, which may include circuitry for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 204 and providing RF output signals for transmission to RFFE circuitry 208.

[0052] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuit 206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and baseband circuit 204 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuit 206.

[0053] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio integrated circuit (IC) circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0054] The RFFE circuitry 208 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF beams received from one or more antennas 210. The RF beams may be transmit beams formed and transmitted by the AN 110 when operating in the millimeter wave or sub-millimeter wave frequency range. The RFFE circuitry 208 coupled to the one or more antennas 210 may receive the transmit beams and forward them to the RF circuitry 206 for further processing. The RFFE circuitry 208 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 206 for transmission by the one or more antennas 210 with or without beamforming. In various embodiments, amplification through the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 206, only in the RFFE circuitry 208, or in both the RF circuitry 206 and the RFFE circuitry 208.

[0055] In some embodiments, the RFFE circuit 208 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The RFFE circuit 208 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RFFE circuit 208 may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify the received RF beam and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 206). The transmit signal path of the RFFE circuit 208 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 206), and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for beamforming and subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 210).

[0056] The processor of the application circuit 202 and the processor of the baseband circuit 204 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 204 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 202 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., transport communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer of the UE / AN, which will be described in further detail below.

[0057] Figure 3AAn example of an RF front end 300 incorporating a millimeter wave RFFE 305 and one or more sub-6 GHz radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) 310 is shown. In some embodiments, the millimeter wave RFFE 305 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with the RFFE 165, RFFE 170, and / or RFFE circuit 208. The millimeter wave RFFE 305 may be used for the UE 105 when operating in FR2 or millimeter wave; the RFIC 310 may be used for the UE 105 when operating in FR1, sub-6 GHz, or LTE bands. In this embodiment, the one or more RFICs 310 may be physically separated from the millimeter wave RFFE 305. The RFIC 310 may include connections to one or more antennas 320. The RFFE 305 may be coupled to multiple antennas 315, which may constitute one or more antenna panels.

[0058] Figure 3B An alternative embodiment of RFFE 325 is shown. In this aspect, both mmWave and sub-6 GHz radio functionality may be implemented in the same physical RFFE 330. RFFE 330 may incorporate both mmWave antenna 335 and sub-6 GHz antenna 340. In some embodiments, RFFE 330 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with RFFE 165, RFFE 170, and / or RFFE circuitry 208.

[0059] Figure 3A and 3B Various RFFE architecture implementations of the UE 105 or AN 110 are shown.

[0060] In a cellular network, it may be desirable to measure cell quality, such as reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise ratio (SINR), and / or other similar quality measurements, to switch to a neighboring cell and / or add a new carrier component (CC) in carrier aggregation (CA). With LTE, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) may be continuously transmitted so that the UE can measure the cell quality of a neighboring cell. In contrast, NR does not have a reference signal CRS, which can reduce resource overhead and interference to other cells. With NR, a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) can be used for cell quality measurement. SSBs may have a longer transmission period than CRSs. The SSB period may be configured to be 5 milliseconds (ms), 10 milliseconds (ms), 20 milliseconds (ms), 40 milliseconds (ms), 80 milliseconds (ms), 160 milliseconds (ms), etc. However, the UE may or may not measure cell quality with the same periodicity for multiple SSBs. Note that an SSB may refer to a group of SSBs that are repeatedly transmitted at a specific carrier frequency, periodicity, and SCS. Appropriate periodicity can be configured based on various channel conditions and network conditions, which can reduce unnecessary measurements and / or reduce power consumption of the UE. Therefore, an SSB-based RRM measurement timing configuration (SMTC) window can be used to configure the UE with the periodicity and timing of the SSB that the UE can use for measurement. For example, the SMTC window configuration can support periodicities of 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, and 160ms and durations of 1ms, 2ms, 3ms, 4ms, and 5ms. If the SSB is offset, the SMTC window can also be set to have an offset. Therefore, in order to measure an SSB or a group of SSBs, the SMTC window can be configured to a UE with SMTC periodicity, SMTC offset, and SMTC duration.

[0061] In an implementation scheme, if the UE needs to measure the SSB, a measurement gap (MG) can be configured to the UE so that the UE may not transmit or receive data, or perform some other operations when measuring the SSB. In NR, the MG length (MGL) can be configured to have several different values, rather than a fixed length for LTE. Therefore, a more adequate MGL can be configured for a specific measurement object (MO) to reduce unnecessary throughput degradation. For example, in addition to the original 6ms, the MGL of NR can be configured to 5.5ms, 4ms, 3.5ms, 3ms, or 1ms. Note that MO refers to an object that contains a measurement configuration, which the UE can use to perform measurements. In intra-frequency measurements and inter-frequency measurements, the MO may indicate the frequency / time position and subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the target reference signal to be measured.

[0062] Bandwidth Adaptation (BA)

[0063] In recent NR RRM and other events, bandwidth parts (BWPs) have been used to distinguish and / or configure certain frequency ranges and SCSs so that the UE and its serving cell can use the bandwidth parts for communication between them. With bandwidth adaptation (BA), the transmission bandwidth and transmission bandwidth of the UE do not need to be as large as the bandwidth (BW) of the cell and can be adjusted. A subset of the total cell bandwidth of a cell is called a BWP, and BA is implemented by configuring the UE with one or more BWPs and indicating which of the configured BWPs is currently the active BWP. The BWP can be characterized by the BW and SCS with which the UE and the network establish and perform communication. For example, the cell BW can be divided into a first BWP with a width of 40 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, a second BWP with a width of 10 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and a third BWP with a width of 20 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz.

[0064] When BA is enabled / configured, the UE 105 may obtain system information (SI) about the active BWP. To enable BA on the primary cell (PCell), the AN 110 may configure the UE with an uplink (UL) BWP and a downlink (DL) BWP. To enable BA on the secondary cell (SCell) using carrier aggregation (CA), the AN 110 may configure at least the UE with a DL BWP, and there may be no UL BWP, although UL BWP is not excluded. For the PCell, the initial BWP is the BWP used for initial access. For the SCell, the initial BWP is the BWP configured for the UE to operate first under SCell activation. In paired spectrum, DL and UL can switch BWP independently. In unpaired spectrum, DL and UL switch BWP simultaneously. Switching between the configured BWPs can be performed with the aid of DCI or an inactivity timer. When an inactivity timer is configured for a serving cell, the expiration of the inactivity timer associated with the cell can switch the active BWP to a default BWP configured by the network.

[0065] In addition, AN 110 may dynamically allocate resources to the UE via the C-RNTI on the PDCCH for both DL scheduling allocations and UL scheduling allocations. When the UE has enabled DL reception, the UE may monitor the PDCCH to find possible DL allocations, and monitor the PDCCH to find possible grants for uplink transmissions. When CA is configured, the same C-RNTI may be applied to all serving cells, each serving cell may signal up to one configured DL allocation, and each serving cell may signal up to one configured UL grant. In these cases, the UE may only need to monitor the PDCCH on one active BWP, without having to monitor the PDCCH on the entire DL frequency of the cell. An independent BWP inactivity timer is used to switch the active BWP to the default BWP. The timer is restarted after successfully decoding the PDCCH, and the default BWP is switched when the timer expires.

[0066] When BA is configured, each BWP may signal at most one configured DL allocation. Only one configured DL allocation may be active on each serving cell at a time, and multiple configured DL allocations may only be active on different serving cells at the same time. Activation and deactivation of configured DL allocations may be independent between serving cells. In addition, when BA is configured, each BWP may signal at most one configured UL grant. Only one configured UL grant may be active on each serving cell at a time. The configured UL grant for one serving cell may be type 1 or type 2. For type 2, activation and deactivation of the configured UL grant may be independent between serving cells. When supplementary uplink (SUL) is configured, the configured UL grant may be signaled only for one of the 2 ULs of the cell.

[0067] In order to achieve reasonable UE battery consumption when BA is configured, only one UL BWP and one DL BWP or only one DL / UL BWP pair for each uplink carrier may be active at a time in the active serving cell, and all other BWPs configured with the UE are deactivated. On a deactivated BWP, the UE may not monitor the PDCCH, or transmit on PUCCH, PRACH and UL-SCH.

[0068] The BWP IE can be used to configure the BWP as described above. The network can configure at least an initial BWP for each serving cell, which includes at least a DL BWP and one (if the serving cell is configured with an uplink) or two (if a supplementary uplink (SUL) is used) UL BWP. The BWP IE may include a separate BWP-Id IE to refer to the corresponding BWP. The initial BWP is referred to by BWP-Id0, and other BWPs are referred to by BWP-Id 1 to maxNrofBWP. In addition, the network may configure additional UL and / or DL ​​BWPs for the serving cell. The BWP configuration can be divided into UL parameters and DL parameters as well as common parameters and dedicated parameters. Common parameters (in BWP-UplinkCommon and BWP-DownlinkCommon) are cell-specific parameters, and the network ensures the necessary alignment with the corresponding parameters of other UEs. The common parameters of the initial BWP of the PCell can also be provided via SI. For all other serving cells, the network provides common parameters via dedicated signaling.

[0069] When configured, the UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more control resource sets (CORESETS) on the active DL BWP on each activated serving cell according to the corresponding search space, where monitoring means decoding each PDCCH candidate according to the monitored downlink control information (DCI) format. The set of PDCCH candidates to be monitored by the UE may be defined according to the PDCCH search space. The search space may be a common search space (CSS) or a UE-specific search space (USS or UE-SS). The UE monitors PDCCH candidates in one or more of the following search spaces:

[0070] - Type O-PDCCH CSS for DCI format with CRC scrambled by SI-RNTI on primary cell;

[0071] - Type OA-PDCCH CSS for DCI format with CRC scrambled by SI-RNTI on primary cell;

[0072] - Type 1 - PDCCH CSS with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI or TC-RNTI or C-RNTI on primary cell for DCI format;

[0073] - Type 2 - PDCCH CSS for DCI format with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI on primary cell;

[0074] - Type 3 - PDCCH CSS with CRC scrambled by INT-RNTI or SFI-RNTI or TPC-PUSCH-RNTI or TPC-PUCCH-RNTI or TPC-SRS-RNTI or C-RNTI or CS-RNTI or SP-CSI-RNTI for DCI format; and

[0075] -UE-SS with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI or CS-RNTI or SP-CSI-RNTI for DCI format.

[0076] The UE may provide CORESET configuration for Type 0-PDCCH CSS through the higher layer parameter RMSI-PDCCH-Config and subcarrier spacing configuration for PDCCH reception through the higher layer parameter RMSI-scs. The UE may determine the CORESET and monitoring opportunity for Type 0-PDCCH CSS. Type 0-PDCCH CSS may be defined by the control channel element (CCE) aggregation level (AL) and the number of PDCCH candidates per CCE AL given in Table BWP-1. The CORESET configured for Type 0-PDCCH CSS may have a CORESET index of 0. Type 0-PDCCH CSS may have a search space index of 0.

[0077] For Type 0A-PDCCH CSS or Type 2-PDCCH CSS, the CORESET may be the same as that of Type 0-PDCCH CSS. The UE may be provided with the configuration for Type 0A-PDCCH CSS by the higher layer parameter osi-SearchSpace. The number of CCE AL and PDCCH candidates per CCE AL may be given in Table BWP-1. If the UE does not provide osi-Searchace for Type 0A-PDCCH CSS, the association between the monitoring opportunity of Type 0A-PDCCH CSS and the SS / PBCH block index may be the same as that of the monitoring opportunity of Type 0-PDCCH CSS.

[0078] The UE may be provided with the configuration for Type 2-PDCCH CSS by a higher layer parameter paging-SearchSpace. The number of CCEAL and PDCCH candidates per CCE AL is given in Table BWP-1. If the UE is not provided with paging-SearchSpace for Type 2-PDCCH CSS, the association between the monitoring opportunity of Type 2-PDCCH CSS and the SS / PBCH block index may be the same as the association of the monitoring opportunity of Type 0-PDCCH CSS.

[0079] For Type 1-PDCCH CSS, the UE may be provided with a CORESET configuration by a higher layer parameter rach-coreset-configuration and a search space configuration by a higher layer parameter ra-SearchSpace. If rach-coreset-configuration is not provided to the UE, the CORESET for Type 1-PDCCH CSS is the same as the CORESET for Type 0-PDCCH CSS. If the UE is not provided with ra-SearchSpace for Type 1-PDCCH CSS, the association between the monitoring opportunity of Type 1-PDCCH CSS and the SS / PBCH block index may be the same as the association of the monitoring opportunity of Type 0-PDCCH CSS.

[0080] The UE may assume that the DM-RS antenna ports associated with PDCCH reception in Type 0-PDCCH CSS, Type 0A-PDCCH CSS, and Type 2-PDCCH CSS, and for the corresponding PDSCH reception, and the DM-RS antenna ports associated with SS / PBCH reception are quasi-co-located with respect to delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average delay, and spatial Rx parameters. The value of the DM-RS scrambling sequence initialization is the cell ID.

[0081] The subcarrier spacing and CP length of PDCCH reception with type 0A-PDCCH CSS or type 1-PDCCH CSS or type 2-PDCCH CSS may be the same as those of PDCCH reception with type 0-PDCCH CSS.

[0082] The UE may assume that the DM-RS antenna ports associated with PDCCH reception and associated PDSCH reception in Type 1-PDCCH CSS are quasi-co-located with the SS / PBCH blocks identified during the initial access procedure or with the received CSI-RS with respect to delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average delay and spatial Rx parameters (when applicable).

[0083] If the value of DM-RS scrambling sequence initialization for Type 0A-PDCCH CSS or Type 1-PDCCH CSS or Type 2-PDCCH CSS may not be provided by the higher layer parameter PDCCH-DMRS-Srambling-ID in system information block type 1, the value may be the cell ID.

[0084] When the UE is configured for DL BWP operation, the above configuration for CSS can be applied to the initial active DL BWP, and the UE can be additionally configured with a CORESET of type 0-PDCCH CSS, type 0A-PDCCH CSS, type 1-PDCCH CSS, or type 2-PDCCH CSS for each configured DL BWP on the PCell, rather than the initial active DL BWP.

[0085] Table BWP-1: CCE-AL and per-CCE-AL PDCCH candidates for Type 0 / Type 0A / Type 2 PDCCH CSS Maximum number of

[0086] CCE AL Number of candidates 4 4 8 2 16 1

[0087] For each DL BWP configured for the UE in the serving cell, the UE can be provided by higher layer signaling with p CORESETs, where p < 3. For CORESET p, 0 < p < P, the higher layer signaling can provide:

[0088] - The CORESET index provided by the higher layer parameter CORESET-ID;

[0089] - The initialization value of the DM-RS scrambling sequence provided by the higher layer parameter PDCCH-DMRS-S scrambling ID;

[0090] - The number of consecutive symbols provided by the higher layer parameter CORESET-time-duration;

[0091] - The resource block set provided by the higher layer parameter CORESET-freq-dom;

[0092] - The CCE-to-REG mapping provided by the higher layer parameter CORESET-CCE-to-REG-mapping-type;

[0093] - In the case of interleaved CCE-to-REG mapping, the REG bundle size provided by the higher layer parameter CORESET-REG-bundle-size;

[0094] - The cyclic shift of the REG bundle interleaving provided by the higher layer parameter CORESET-shift-index;

[0095] - The antenna port quasi-co-location indicating the quasi-co-location information of the DM-RS antenna port for PDCCH reception provided by the higher layer parameter TCI-StatesPDCCH from a set of antenna port quasi-co-locations;

[0096] - Via the CORESET pAn indication of the presence or absence of the transmission configuration indication (TCI) field of DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 provided by the higher layer parameter TCI-PresentInDCI for the PDCCH transmission in the DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1.

[0097] For each CORESET in the DL BWP of the serving cell, the corresponding higher layer parameter CORESET-freq-dom may provide a bitmap. The bits of the bitmap may have a one-to-one mapping with non-overlapping groups of 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs), with the PRB index starting at position of The PRBs are arranged in ascending order in the DL BWP bandwidth, where the first PRB in the first group of 6 PRBs has index If the corresponding bit value in the bitmap is 1, a group of 6 PRBs may be allocated to the CORESET; otherwise, if the corresponding bit value in the bitmap is 0, the group of 6 PRBs may not be allocated to the CORESET.

[0098] If the UE has received an initial configuration of more than one TCI states via a higher layer parameter TCI-StatesPDCCH containing more than one TCI states, but has not yet received a MAC CE activation for one of the TCI states, the UE may assume that the DM-RS antenna ports associated with PDCCH reception in the UE-SS are quasi-co-located with the UE's SS / PBCH blocks identified during the initial access procedure with respect to delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler drift, average delay and spatial Rx parameters (when applicable).

[0099] If the UE has received a higher layer parameter TCI-StatesPDCCH containing a single TCI state, the UE may assume that the DM-RS antenna ports associated with PDCCH reception in the UE-SS may be quasi-co-located with one or more DL RSs configured by the TCI state.

[0100] For each DL BWP of a serving cell for which the UE is configured to monitor PDCCH in the search space, the UE may be configured by a higher layer parameter search-space-config as follows:

[0101] -Search space set index s , 0≤s<S, where S≤10, and CORESET index p The relationship between

[0102] -For CORESET p The search space set in s :

[0103] - the search space set is either the CSS set or an indication of the UE-SS set provided by the higher layer parameter Common-search-space-flag;

[0104] - If the search space set s for CSS, an indication provided by the higher layer parameter RNTI-monitoring to monitor the PDCCH for one or more of DCI format 0_0 and DCI format 1_0, CRC, DCI format 2_0, DCI format 2_1, DCI format 2_2, and DCI format 2_3 with a CRC scrambled by one RNTI from a plurality of RNTIs;

[0105] - If the search space set s is a UE-SS, an indication provided by a higher layer parameter USS-DCI-format to monitor the PDCCH for DCI format 0_0 and DCI format 1_0 or for DCI format 0_1 ​​and DCI format 1_1;

[0106] - The number of PDCCH candidates per CCE AL L is determined by the higher layer parameters aggregationLevel1, aggregationLevel2, aggregationLevel4, aggregationLevel8 and aggregationLevel16 for CCE AL 1, CCE AL 2, CCE AL 4, CCE AL 8 and CCE AL 16 respectively

[0107] - k provided by the higher layer parameter monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset p，s PDCCH monitoring periodicity of the time slot;

[0108] - provided by the higher layer parameter monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset p，s PDCCH monitoring offset, where 0≤o p，s <k p，s ;

[0109] - The PDCCH monitoring pattern within a slot provided by the higher layer parameter monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot, indicating the first symbol of the CORESET within the slot used for PDCCH monitoring.

[0110] If the higher layer parameter monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot indicates to the UE only one PDCCH monitoring opportunity within a slot, then if S The associated CORESET P includes at least one symbol after the third slot symbol, then it may not be expected that the UE configures the corresponding search space set for a PDCCH subcarrier spacing other than 15 kHz. S .

[0111] For a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, if the search space set S The higher layer parameter monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot indicates to the UE that there is only one PDCCH monitoring opportunity in the timeslot corresponding to CORESET P, and CORESET P includes at least one symbol after the third timeslot symbol, and the UE can expect all CORESETs configured to the UE to be within at most three identical consecutive symbols in the timeslot.

[0112] The UE can determine the PDCCH monitoring timing from the PDCCH monitoring periodicity, PDCCH monitoring offset and PDCCH monitoring mode in the time slot. S ,if Then the UE can determine that the f The frame has a number There is a PDCCH monitoring opportunity in the time slot.

[0113] PDCCH UE-SS at CCE AL L∈{1,2,4,8,16} Can be used for CCE AL L The PDCCH candidate set is defined.

[0114] If the UE is configured with a higher layer parameter CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig for the serving cell, the carrier indicator field value may correspond to the value indicated by CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig.

[0115] For the DL BWP of the serving cell on which the UE monitors the PDCCH candidates in the UE-SS, if the UE is not configured with the carrier indicator field, the UE may monitor the PDCCH candidates without the carrier indicator field. For the serving cell on which the UE monitors the PDCCH candidates in the UE-SS, if the UE is configured with the carrier indicator field, the UE may monitor the PDCCH candidates with the carrier indicator field.

[0116] If the UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates with a carrier indicator field corresponding to the secondary cell in another serving cell, it may not be expected that the UE monitors PDCCH candidates on the DL BWP of the secondary cell.For the DL BWP of the serving cell on which the UE monitors PDCCH candidates, the UE may monitor PDCCH candidates for at least the same serving cell.

[0117] Table BWP-2 provides the maximum number of PDCCH candidates in the same search space across all CCE ALs and across all DCI formats with different sizes. Therein, the UE may be expected to monitor a maximum number of PDCCH candidates per time slot and per serving cell depending on the subcarrier spacing.

[0118] Table BWP-2: Based on subcarrier spacing value 2 μ 15kHz, μ∈ {0,1,2,3 }, per time slot and per serving cell Maximum number of PDCCH candidates .

[0119]

[0120] Table BWP-3 provides the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs If the higher layer parameter Monitoring-symbols-PDCCH-within-slot indicates to the UE only one PDCCH monitoring opportunity within a slot, the UE may be expected to monitor the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs per slot and per serving cell according to the subcarrier spacing. CCEs may not overlap if they correspond to different CORESET indices or different first symbols for receiving corresponding PDCCH candidates.

[0121] Table BWP-3: Based on subcarrier spacing value 2 μ 15kHz, μ∈ {0, 1, 2, 3 }, non- Maximum number of overlapping CCEs .

[0122]

[0123] By S css Indicates CORESET p css The corresponding set P css A set of search spaces for CSS in css , and through S uss Indicates CORESET p uss The corresponding set P uss A set of search spaces s of UE-SS in uss , where the UE monitors PDCCH candidates in the time slot. If The UE monitors the CSS in the time slot. PDCCH candidates and UE-SS PDCCH candidates.

[0124] For the search space set associated with CORESET P S , corresponding to the time slot of the serving cell PDCCH candidates in the search space set AL L The CCE index of is given by the following formula, where the serving cell corresponds to the carrier indicator field value n CI :

[0125]

[0126] For any CSS, For UE-SS, Y p，-1 =n RNTI ≠0, A0=39827, A1=39829, A2=39839, and D=65537; i=0, ..., L-1; N CCE，p Numbered from 0 to N in CORESET P CCE，p -1 is the number of CCEs; n CI is the value of the Carrier Indicator field if the UE is configured with the Carrier Indicator field via the higher layer parameter CrossCarrierSchedulingConfig of the serving cell used to monitor the PDCCH; otherwise, including for any CSS, n CI =0; in is the number of PDCCH candidates that the UE is configured to monitor corresponding to n CI and the search space set s AL of the serving cell L ; For any CSS, For UE-SS, is the CCE AL of the search space set S in CORESETP L All configurations CI Worth The maximum value of .

[0127] If for UE, there is AL in CORESET P L Index Any CCE index of a PDCCH candidate with AL in CORESET P L Index Any CCE index of a PDCCH candidate overlaps, where It may not be desirable for a UE to monitor a PDCCH candidates.

[0128] It may not be expected that the UE is configured to monitor DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1 in the CSS. The UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates in a serving cell of a DCI format size having a carrier indicator field and a CRC scrambled by a C-RNTI, wherein the PDCCH candidate may have one or more possible values ​​of the carrier indicator field for the DCI format size, and if the UE includes an indication for the corresponding capability in the UE-NR-Capability, it may be assumed that the PDCCH candidate with the DCI format size may be transmitted in the serving cell in any PDCCH UE-specific search space corresponding to any possible value of the carrier indicator field of the DCI format size.

[0129] A UE configured with a bandwidth part indicator of DCI format 0_1 ​​or 1_1 may determine DCI information applicable to a new active DL BWP or UL BWP, respectively, if the active DL BWP or active UL BWP changes, as described below.

[0130] For unpaired spectrum operation, if the UE is not configured for PUSCH / PUCCH transmission on serving cell c2, it may not be expected for the UE to monitor PDCCH on serving cell c1 if the PDCCH overlaps in time with SRS transmission (including any interruption due to uplink or downlink RF re-tuning time on serving cell c2) and if the UE cannot receive and transmit simultaneously on serving cell c1 and serving cell c2.

[0131] Bandwidth Partial Operation

[0132] When the UE is configured to operate in the BWP of the serving cell, the UE may be configured by higher layers for the serving cell with a set of up to four BWPs for reception by the UE (DL BWP set) in the DL bandwidth via parameter BWP-Downlink, and a set of up to four BWPs for transmission by the UE (UL BWP set) in the UL bandwidth via parameter BWP-Uplink.

[0133] The initial active DL BWP may be defined by the location and number of consecutive PRBs of the control resource set used for the Type 0-PDCCH common search space, the subcarrier spacing and the cyclic prefix. For operation on a primary cell or a secondary cell, the initial active UL BWP may be provided to the UE via a higher layer parameter initialuplinkBWP. If the UE is configured with a supplementary carrier, the UE may provide the initial UL BWP on the supplementary carrier via a higher layer parameter initialUplinkBWP in supplementaryUplink.

[0134] If the UE has a dedicated BWP configuration, the UE may be provided with the first active DL BWP for reception by a higher layer parameter firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id and the first active UL BWP for transmission on the primary cell by a higher layer parameter firstActiveUplinkBWP-Id.

[0135] For each DL BWP or UL BWP in a set of DL BWPs or UL BWPs, the UE may be configured with the following parameters for the serving cell:

[0136] - the subcarrier spacing provided by the higher layer parameter DL-BWP-mu or UL-BWP-mu or the subcarrier spacing provided by the higher layer parameter subcarrierSpacing;

[0137] - the cyclic prefix provided by the higher layer parameter DL-BWP-CP or UL-BWP-CP, or the cyclic prefix provided by the higher layer parameter cyclicPrefix;

[0138] - the PRB offset relative to the PRB determined by the higher layer parameters offset-pointA-low-scs and ref-scs, and the number of consecutive PRBs provided by the higher layer parameters DL-BWP-BW or UL-BWP-BW or firstPRB, and the number of consecutive PRBs indicated by the higher layer parameter locationAndBandwidth, interpreted as RIV, set and the first PRB is a PRB offset relative to the PRB indicated by higher layer parameters offsetToCarrier and subcarrierSpacing;

[0139] - an index into a set of DL BWPs or UL BWPs provided by the corresponding higher layer parameter DL-BWP-index or UL-BWP-index, or an index into a set of DL BWPs or UL BWPs provided by the corresponding higher layer parameter bwp-Id;

[0140] - a set of BWP common parameters and a set of BWP dedicated parameters provided by the higher layer parameters bwp-Common and bwp-Dedicated; and / or

[0141] - Detection of the PDSCH reception timing value through the higher layer parameter DL-data-time-domain for DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1, detection of the HARQ-ACK transmission timing value through the higher layer parameter DL-data-DL-acknowledgement for PDSCH reception, and detection of the PUSCH transmission timing value through the higher layer parameter UL-data-time-domain for DCI format 0_0 or DCI format 0_1.

[0142] For unpaired spectrum operation, when the DL BWP index is equal to the UL BWP index, a DL BWP from a set of configured DL BWPs with an index provided by a higher layer parameter bwp-Id of the DL BWP may be linked with a UL BWP from a set of configured UL BWPs with an index provided by a higher layer parameter bwp-Id of the UL BWP. For unpaired spectrum operation, when the bwp-Id of the DL BWP is equal to the bwp-Id of the UL BWP, the UE may not expect to receive a configuration in which the center frequency of the DL BWP is different from the center frequency of the UL BWP.

[0143] For each DL BWP in a set of DL BWPs on the primary cell, the UE may be configured with a set of control resources for each type of common search space and for a UE-specific search space.The UE may not desire to be configured without a common search space on a PCell or PSCell in an active DL BWP.

[0144] For each UL BWP in a set of UL BWPs, the UE may be a configured resource set for PUCCH transmission. The UE may receive PDCCH and PDSCH in the DL BWP according to the configured subcarrier spacing and CP length of the DL BWP. The UE may transmit PUCCH and PUSCH in the UL BWP according to the configured subcarrier spacing and CP length of the UL BWP.

[0145] If the BWP indicator field is configured as DCI format 1_1, the BWP indicator field value may indicate the active DL BWP for DL ​​reception from the configured DL BWP set. If the BWP indicator field is configured as DCI format 0_1, the BWP indicator field value may indicate the active UL BWP for UL transmission from the configured UL BWP set. If the BWP indicator field is configured as DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1 and indicates a UL BWP or DL ​​BWP that is different from the active UL BWP or DL ​​BWP, respectively, the UE may:

[0146] - for each information field in the received DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1;

[0147] - if the size of the information field is smaller than the size required for DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1 interpretation of the UL BWP or DL ​​BWP, respectively, indicated by the bandwidth part indicator, the UE shall zero-bias the information field until its size is the size required to interpret the information field of the UL BWP or DL ​​BWP before interpreting the DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1 information field, respectively;

[0148] - if the size of the information field is larger than the size required for DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1 interpretation of the UL BWP or DL ​​BWP, respectively, indicated by the bandwidth part indicator, the UE uses a number of least significant bits of DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1 equal to the number of least significant bits required for the UL BWP or DL ​​BWP, respectively, indicated by the bandwidth part indicator, prior to interpreting the DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1 information field; and / or

[0149] - Set the active UL BWP or DL ​​BWP to the UL BWP or DL ​​BWP indicated by the bandwidth part indicator in DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, respectively.

[0150] The UE can expect to detect DCI format 0_1 ​​indicating an active UL BWP change, or DCI format 1_1 indicating an active DL BWP change, only if the corresponding PDCCH is received within the first 3 symbols of a slot.

[0151] For the primary cell, the UE may be provided with a default DL BWP in the configured DL BWP by a higher layer parameter defaultDownlinkBWP-Id. If the UE is not provided with a default DL BWP by a higher layer parameter defaultDownlinkBWP-Id, the default DL BWP may be the initial active DL BWP.

[0152] If the UE is configured for a secondary cell having a higher layer parameter defaultDownlinkBWP-Id indicating a default DL BWP among the configured DL BWPs, and the UE may be configured with a higher layer parameter bwp-InactivityTimer indicating a timer value, the UE procedure on the secondary cell may be the same as the UE procedure on the primary cell using the timer value of the secondary cell and the default DL BWP of the secondary cell.

[0153] If the UE is configured with the timer value for the primary cell by the higher layer parameter bwp-InactivityTimer and the timer is running, then according to 3GPP TS 38.321, v15.2.0 (June 20, 2018), if the UE does not detect a DCI format for PDSCH reception on the primary cell for paired spectrum operation, or if the UE does not detect a DCI format for PDSCH reception or a DCI format for PUSCH transmission on the primary cell during an interval for unpaired spectrum operation, the UE may increment the timer every 1 millisecond for frequency range 1 or every 0.5 milliseconds for frequency range 2.

[0154] If the UE is configured by the higher layer parameter BWP-InactivationTimer with the timer value for the secondary cell and the timer is running, if the UE does not detect a DCI format for PDSCH reception on the secondary cell for paired spectrum operation, or if the UE does not detect a DCI format for PDSCH reception or a DCI format for PUSCH transmission on the secondary cell during an interval for unpaired spectrum operation, the UE may increment the timer every 1 millisecond interval for frequency range 1 or every 0.5 milliseconds for frequency range 2. When the timer expires, the UE may deactivate the secondary cell.

[0155] If the UE is configured by a higher layer parameter firstActiveDownlinkBWP-Id as the first active DL BWP and is configured by a higher layer parameter firstActiveUplinkBWP-Id as the first active UL BWP on the secondary cell or the supplementary carrier, the UE may use the indicated DL BWP and the indicated UL BWP on the secondary cell as the corresponding first active DL BWP and first active UL BWP on the secondary cell or the supplementary carrier.

[0156] For paired spectrum operation, if the UE changes its active UL BWP on the PCell between the time when DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 is detected and the time of the corresponding HARQ-ACK information transmission on the PUCCH, the UE may not be expected to transmit HARQ-ACK information on the PUCCH resources indicated by DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1. It may also not be expected that the UE monitors the PDCCH when the UE performs RRM measurements on a bandwidth that is not within the UE's active DL BWP.

[0157] Figure 4An example of switching BWPs during an intra-frequency measurement 400 shown in both the time domain and the frequency domain is shown according to various embodiments. In this example, the UE operates in a channel BW 402, and there are two BWPs shown as BWP1 410 and BWP2 415 in the channel BW 402. While the UE 105 operates in BWP1 405 as its active BWP with its serving cell in the network, the UE 105 may need to perform intra-frequency measurements of one or more SSBs 415a / b / c / d / e. The SSBs 415 may be from a serving cell or a target cell in the network, or a combination thereof.

[0158] In conventional intra-frequency measurements, the UE 105 may operate at a carrier frequency and SCS in a channel BW relative to a serving cell and one or more SSBs transmitted by the same serving cell or target cell, transmitting at the same carrier frequency and SCS. Therefore, the UE 105 may not need a MG to perform measurements of one or more SSBs because the UE may operate at the same carrier frequency and SCS to process data while performing SSB measurements. However, with the introduction of BWPs, the UE may operate in a BWP while being requested to measure SSBs in another BWP in the same channel BW. For the exemplary description herein, the SSBs may be located in one BWP referred to as the initial BWP. Therefore, when the active BWP does not overlap with the initial BWP where the SSB is located, an MG may be required in intra-frequency measurements.

[0159] Figure 4Intra-frequency measurements of SSB 415a and SSB 415b are shown without MG, because UE 105 can perform both measurements and data processing including data transmission, reception, etc. during intra-frequency measurements without MG 420. In this case, BWP1 405 is active and is the initial BWP. Then, if BWP switching 425 occurs during intra-frequency measurements, the active BWP can be switched from BWP1 405 to BWP2 410. In this example, the UE can operate in BWP1 405 or BWP410. Once UE 105 does not have BWP1 as the active BWP, while SSB 415c / d / e is still in BWP1 405, UE 105 may need MG to measure SSB 415c / d / e, because UE 105 may not be able to operate in BWP1 and BWP2 at the same time. Therefore, MG can be configured by UE and used for intra-frequency measurements with MG 430. However, configuring the MG may take relatively longer than BWP switching because the MG may be configured via RRC signaling, whereas the BWP switching may be configured via downlink channel indication (DCI) signaling. Therefore, the MG may not be configured and used until time point 435. This may cause intra-frequency measurements to be interrupted, and one or more SSBs may not be measured, for example, Figure 4 SSB 415c shown. At the same time, configuring, reconfiguring or deconfiguring the MG by the AN 110 to the UE 105 may also cause performance degradation and throughput loss between the UE 105 and the network. One existing method is to configure the UE 105 with the MG in all intra-frequency measurements regardless of the active BWP or BWP switching. This method may not miss SSBs to measure the MG rescheduling overhead or cause MG rescheduling overhead. However, even when the UE 105 may not need the data, the UE 105 may not process the data during the configured MG in use, which may result in less efficient throughput performance.

[0160] Figure 5 An exemplary SSB-based intra-frequency measurement 500 in a channel BW with multiple BWPs according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the UE 105 may be configured with multiple BWPs. For example, the UE may be configured with BWP1, BWP2, and BWP3. The configuration of one or more BWPs may be configured during the BWP configuration described previously. In this example, BWP3 overlaps with BWP1, which has a wider BW. It is assumed that BWP1 and BWP3 have the same SCS. At the same time, BWP2 occupies a different frequency range, and it may have the same or different SCS as BWP1 and BWP3. Figure 5A series of SSBs 505 is shown transmitted in BWP1 as the initial BWP for UE 105. A single series of SSBs from a serving cell is shown throughout this disclosure, but more than one series of SSBs may be used in a serving cell. Some or all of the embodiments herein may apply as well as multiple series of SSBs. A series of SSBs refers to one or more SSBs characterized in the same BWP having the same frequency and SCS from the same cell, and for these reasons may be referred to as SSBs. Unless otherwise indicated, the terms "series of SSBs" and "SSB" may be used interchangeably in this disclosure. Note that in Figure 5 In FIG. 5 , the initial BWP is BWP1, and only the initial BWP may contain SSB 505. However, SSB 505 may be transmitted in another BWP, and some or all of the methods are also applicable.

[0161] In an embodiment, the UE 105 may be initially configured with BWP1 as the active BWP. The MG may be configured to be initially used to measure the SSB 505, but not activated or used by the UE 105 for measurement until needed. Therefore, the configured MG may not be used by the UE 105 unless the MG is activated by the UE 105 under certain conditions. In this case, the UE 105 may not need the MG to measure the SSB 505 because the SSB 505 is in BWP1 and the active BWP is also in BWP1. Therefore, the UE 105 may deactivate the configured MG because it does not need the MG. In another case, if the UE 105 is configured with BWP switching, the UE 105 may determine to activate or deactivate the configured MG based on the detailed information of the BWP switching. For example, if the UE 105 is configured to switch from BWP1 to BWP3, the UE 105 may not activate the MG because BWP1 and BWP3 share the same SCS and carrier frequency. But if BWP3 operates under a different SCS, UE 105 may need MG even if the carrier frequency of BWP1 and BWP3 is the same. Therefore, UE 105 may activate or deactivate the configured MG accordingly.

[0162] In another case, if the UE 105 is configured with a BWP that switches from BWP1 to BWP2, the UE 105 may need the MG because BWP1 and BWP2 do not share the same carrier frequency, regardless of whether the SC of the two BWPs is the same. Therefore, the UE 105 may activate the configured MG accordingly. Continuing with this case, the MG is now activated while the active BWP is BWP2 and the SSB is in BWP1. If the UE 105 is configured to switch back from BWP2 to BWP1, the UE 105 may no longer need the MG once the active BWP is BWP1 again. Therefore, the UE 105 may then determine to deactivate the activated MG.

[0163] In the above embodiments, AN 110 may configure the MG via RRC signaling or other similar signaling via an information element (IE). The initial BWP configuration may be configured together with the MG configuration or in a separate IE. UE 105 may be indicated by AN 110 that it may be granted the ability to determine activation and deactivation of the configured MG. There may be multiple ways for UE 105 to activate, deactivate or deactivate the configured MG via various signaling methods in NR. The following are some non-exclusive and non-limiting examples in specific implementations in this regard.

[0164] In an embodiment, the UE 105 may be configured with the capability of MG activation or deactivation based on BWP. This capability may be configured in a measurement gap IE (MeasGapConfig), which may be the same or substantially similar to the MeasGapConfig IE defined in 3GPP TS 38.331 v15.2.1 (June 21, 2018). This capability may be indicated in "gapActivationPerBWP" in the IE, as shown in bold below:

[0165] MeasGapConfig Information Element

[0166]

[0167]

[0168]

[0169] In the above example of the MeasGapConfig IE, "bwp-Id" may indicate the BWP that is configured to be active for the UE 105. If "gapActivate" is indicated with a "true" value, the UE 105 may activate the configured MG if the active BWP is the same as the BWP indicated by "bwp-Id" because the SSB 505 is transmitted only in the initial BWP, which in this case is different from the active BWP. Otherwise, if the MG was not previously activated, the UE 105 may deactivate the MG or not. In some embodiments, the IE may also indicate one or more BWPs with which the UE 105 may activate or deactivate the MG per BWP. The IE may also indicate one or more BWP-IDs corresponding to the one or more BWPs.

[0170] In some embodiments, the BWP may be configured and / or activated to the UE 105 via a BWP-downlink IE, which may be the same or substantially similar to the BWP-downlink IE defined in TS 38.331. This activation / deactivation capability with respect to a specific downlink (DL) BWP may be indicated in the "gapActivate" IE, as shown in bold below:

[0171] BWP-Downlink Information Element

[0172]

[0173] In the above-mentioned BWP-downlink IE, the IE may be used to indicate that an additional DL BWP is active in addition to the initial BWP. Therefore, "bwp-Id" may have a non-zero value. In this case, the MG may be activated by the UE 105 because the configured active BWP indicated by "bwp-Id" is different from the initial BWP containing the SSB 505. In some exceptional cases, when the active BWP shares the same carrier frequency and SCS as the initial BWP, the MG may not be activated.

[0174] In an embodiment, if the MG is activated due to a previous BWP switch, the UE 105 may keep the MG activated or deactivate the MG according to the new active BWP. For example, if the new active BWP is the same as the initial BWP, or at least shares the same carrier frequency and SCS as the initial BWP, the UE 105 may deactivate the MG when the new active BWP is indicated. Conversely, if the new active BWP is different from the initial BWP, or does not share the carrier frequency or SCS of the initial BWP, the UE 105 may keep the MG activated because it still needs the MG to measure the SSB in the initial BWP.

[0175] In some embodiments, if more than one MG is to be configured to the UE 105, each of the configured MGs may be determined to be activated, not activated, or deactivated if activated. The UE 105 may determine activation, deactivation, or deactivation based on corresponding indications from one or more IEs configured by the AN 110. Similar to the case with a single MG, each of the configured MGs may be activated or not activated based on the active BWP and the initial BWP. In this method, a similar gapActivationPerBWP may be used for each configured MG. This capability may be indicated in the "gapActivationPerBWP" in the IE, as shown in bold below. Inside the bold rectangle, three different MGs are shown as multiple MGs.

[0176] MeasGapConfig Information Element

[0177]

[0178]

[0179]

[0180]

[0181] In some embodiments, the BWP may be configured and / or activated to the UE 105 via a BWP-downlink IE, which may be the same or substantially similar to the BWP-downlink IE defined in TS 38.331. Such activation / deactivation capabilities with respect to a specific downlink (DL) BWP may be indicated in the "gapIdActivate" IE, as shown in bold below:

[0182] BWP-Downlink Information Element

[0183]

[0184] In the above-mentioned BWP-downlink IE, the IE may be used to indicate that an additional DL BWP is active in addition to the initial BWP. Therefore, "bwp-Id" may have a non-zero value. In an embodiment, more than one MG may be configured for the UE 105, and the IE may indicate the number of MGs and / or each of the MGs. Since there are more than one MG, each of them needs to be indicated. In one option, the MG identification (ID) may be used to indicate that one of the configured MGs is to be activated, to avoid activation, to be deactivated, or to be activated due to no change from an earlier MG. The action on the MG ID may be indicated within the BWP configuration.

[0185] In another option without MG ID, a list of sequentially configured MGs may be provided to the UE 105. A bit string may be used to indicate which MG is activated. The list may include, but is not limited to, per-UE gap, per-FR gap, per-FR1 gap, and per-FR2 gap. For example, if the list includes per-UE gap, per-FR1 gap, and per-FR2 gap, in sequence, the bit string "011" may indicate that per-FR1 and per-FR2 gaps are to be activated or remain activated, and per-UE gaps are to be deactivated or not activated. In another option, "gapActivate" within each BWP may be used to enable or disable all configured per-UE MGs, per-FR1 MGs, or per-FR2 gap MGs when the active BWP is in that BWP.

[0186] Fig. 6AAn operational flow / algorithm structure 600 is shown that facilitates the process of configuring and utilizing a MG based on a BWP in intra-frequency measurements from a UE perspective, according to various embodiments. The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may be performed by a UE 105 or circuitry thereof.

[0187] At 610, the operation flow / algorithm structure 600 may include decoding an IE indicating an active BWP and a MG based on the active BWP upon receiving a message from the AN. The IE may be a MG configuration (MeasGapConfig) that is the same or substantially similar to a MeasGapConfig IE, or a BWP downlink IE (BWP-Downlink) defined in TS 38.331.

[0188] In an embodiment, if the IE is a MeasGapConfig IE, the IE may include information indicating that one or more BWPs may be used to activate / deactivate the configured MG. The MG may be configured as a per-BWP MG. Each BWP MG may be configured to the UE for intra-frequency measurements in an initial BWP. The initial BWP is where an SSB or a group of SSBs are located for intra-frequency measurements. The IE may also indicate an active BWP to which the UE is configured to switch during intra-frequency measurements. The IE may indicate the active BWP by a BWP (identification) ID or similar reference. Then, based on a comparison or determination between the active BWP and the initial BWP, each BWP MG may be activated or not activated, or deactivated if previously activated. Further information about the MeasGapConfig IE is described with respect to an example of a MeaGapConfig information element.

[0189] In an embodiment, if the IE is a BWP-Downlink IE, the IE may include information indicating the active downlink (DL) BWP activated by the UE, and each BWP MG may be used for the BWP. Therefore, the UE may determine to activate, inactivate, deactivate, or not deactivate the MG based on the active DL BWP and the initial BWP.

[0190] In an embodiment, the MG may be configured to the UE by the AN via the MeasGapConfig IE or another similar IE. If the UE supports multiple MGs, more than one MG may be configured to the UE via the MeasGapConfig IE or another similar IE.

[0191] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may also include, at 620, activating, avoiding activation, deactivating, or avoiding deactivating the MG based on the active BWP and the initial BWP relative to the measurement of the SSB in the initial BWP. The UE may determine to activate, not activate, deactivate, or not deactivate the MG by comparing a new active BWP or a dormant active BWP (hereinafter referred to as an "active BWP") to the initial BWP carrying the SSB.

[0192] In an embodiment, if the active BWP is the same as the initial BWP, or the two BWPs share the same carrier frequency and SCS, the MG may not be activated, or the MG may have been activated before the new active BWP and deactivated in use. This is because the UE may be able to measure SSBs and process data (e.g., transmit or receive data) in the same BWP (in this case, the initial BWP). Otherwise, if the active BWP is different from the initial BWP, or the two BWPs do not share a carrier frequency or SCS or both, the MG may be activated, or the MG may not be deactivated if it has not been used before the new active BWP. This is because the UE may not be able to operate in two BWPs simultaneously.

[0193] In an embodiment, if multiple MGs are supported by a UE and more than one MG is configured for the UE, the UE may be configured to activate, inactivate, deactivate or not deactivate the MGs, respectively.

[0194] The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may also include, at 630, measuring SSBs in the initial BWP during intra-frequency measurements with or without the MG based on activation, inactivation, deactivation, or deactivation of the MG. Once the MG is set for or not for SSB measurement, the UE may measure the SSB accordingly. For example, if the MG is in use, the UE may not process or expect to process data in the active BWP during the SSB measurement period. Otherwise, if the MG is not in use, the UE may measure the SSB while processing data using a serving cell in the active BWP. In order to operate in the initial BWP or the active BWP, the UE may need to tune its receiver and / or transmitter to operate in a specific BWP. The tuning may include, but is not limited to, tuning the operating frequency, SCS, and operating BW.

[0195] Figure 6B An operational flow / algorithm structure 605 is shown that facilitates the process of configuring and utilizing MG based on BWP in intra-frequency measurements from the perspective of the AN, according to various embodiments. The operational flow / algorithm structure 605 may be performed by the AN 110 or circuitry thereof.

[0196] The operation flow / algorithm structure 605 may include, at 615, generating an IE of MG configuration (MeasGapConfig) or BWP downlink based on the active bandwidth part (BWP) to indicate the activation of the MG. The IE may indicate how to use the configured MG based on the initial BWP and the active BWP, such as activating, not activating, deactivating, or not deactivating the MG. The IE may indicate the ability of the UE to determine whether to activate, not activate, deactivate, or not deactivate the MG.

[0197] In an embodiment, when the UE supports multiple MGs and more than one MG is configured for the UE, the IE may indicate activation, deactivation, avoidance of activation, or avoidance of deactivation with each configured MG. Additionally or alternatively, the IE may indicate an action or no action on MG activation / deactivation by indicating a group or list of configured MGs. The MGs may be grouped according to their characteristics, such as per UE MG, per FR1 MG, per FR2 MG, and other available types of MGs.

[0198] The operational flow / algorithm structure 605 may also include transmitting the IE to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling at 625. The AN may transmit the IE or a message including the IE to the UE for intra-frequency measurement.

[0199] In some embodiments, the AN may generate a configuration message that configures the BWP switching to the UE during the intra-frequency measurement. The configuration message may include a BWP-Downlink IE or a different IE. The configuration message may be transmitted to the UE via a DCI, which may be relatively faster than MG configuration via RRC.

[0200] In some embodiments, the AN may also generate and transmit the SSB in the initial BWP for intra-frequency measurements.

[0201] Figure 7 An exemplary interface of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is shown. As discussed above, Figure 2 The baseband circuit 204 may include processors 204A-204E and a memory 204G used by the processors. Figure 5 A and Figure 5 In various embodiments of B, the processors 204A to 204E of the UE 105 may execute some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 600. Figure 5 A and Figure 5B, the processors 204A to 204E of the AN 110 may execute some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 605. Each of the processors 204A to 204E may include a memory interface 704A to 704E for sending / receiving data to / from the memory 204G, respectively. The processors 204A-204E of the UE 105 may be used to process SFTD measurements; the processors 204A-204E of the AN 110 may be used to generate SFTD measurement configurations.

[0202] The baseband circuit 204 may also include: one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 712 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 204); an application circuit interface 714 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 204); Figure 2 RF circuit interface 716 (for example, for sending / receiving data to / from the application circuit 202); Figure 2 an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components to send / receive data); and a power management interface 720 (for example, an interface for sending / receiving power or control signals).

[0203] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Figure 8 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 800 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 810, one or more memory / storage devices 820, and one or more communication resources 830, each of which can be communicatively coupled via a bus 840. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., network function virtualization (NFV)) is utilized, a hypervisor 802 can be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize hardware resources 800.

[0204] Processor 810 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) (such as a baseband processor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, processor 812 and processor 814.

[0205] The memory / storage device 820 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 820 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0206] The communication resources 830 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 804 or one or more databases 806 via the network 808. For example, the communication resources 830 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a universal serial bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components.

[0207] The instructions 850 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable codes for causing at least any one of the processors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein (e.g., operation flows 600 and 605). For example, in an embodiment in which the hardware resource 800 is implemented in the UE 105, the instructions 850 may cause the UE to perform some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 600. In other embodiments, the hardware resource 800 may be implemented in the AN 110. The instructions 850 may cause the AN 110 to perform some or all of the operation flow / algorithm structure 605. The instructions 850 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 810 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 820, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 850 may be transmitted to the hardware resource 800 from any combination of the peripheral device 804 or the database 806. Thus, the memory of processor 810, memory / storage device 820, peripheral device 804, and database 806 are examples of computer-readable media and machine-readable media.

[0208] Some non-limiting examples of various embodiments are provided below.

[0209] Embodiment 1 may include a method comprising: upon receiving a message from an AN, decoding or causing decoding of an IE indicating an active BWP and an MG based on the active BWP; based on the active BWP and the BWP with SSB, activating or causing activation, avoiding activation or causing avoidance of activation, deactivating or causing deactivation, or avoiding deactivation or causing avoidance of deactivation of the MG relative to measurement of a synchronization signal block (SSB) in the BWP; and based on the activation, inactivation, deactivation or deactivation of the MG, measuring or causing measurement of the SSB in the BWP with the SSB during intra-frequency measurement with or without the MG.

[0210] Embodiment 1A may include the method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the BWP with SSB is an initial BWP of the UE.

[0211] Embodiment 2 may include a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein in order to activate or avoid deactivating the MG is to determine that the active BWP is different from the BWP with SSB.

[0212] Embodiment 3 may include the method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein to activate or avoid deactivating the MG is to determine that the active BWP and the BWP with SSB have different carrier frequencies or SCS or both.

[0213] Embodiment 4 may include a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein, in order to avoid activating the MG, the UE is caused to determine that the active BWP is the same BWP as the BWP with SSB, or that the active BWP and the BWP with SSB have the same carrier frequency and SCS.

[0214] Embodiment 5 may include a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the MG is activated relative to a previous active BWP, and the MG is deactivated in order to determine that the active BWP is different from the previous active BWP.

[0215] Embodiment 6 may include a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein in order to activate the MG and measure the SSB with the MG, the method further includes: measuring or causing the SSB to be measured relative to the carrier frequency and subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the BWP with the SSB during the intra-frequency measurement; and avoiding or causing avoiding switching to the active BWP during the intra-frequency measurement.

[0216] Embodiment 7 may include a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein in order to avoid activating or deactivating the MG and measuring the SSB without the MG, the method further includes: measuring or causing the SSB to be measured relative to the carrier frequency and subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the BWP with the SSB during the intra-frequency measurement; and transmitting to or receiving from the AN in the active BWP during the intra-frequency measurement.

[0217] Embodiment 8 may include a method according to embodiments 1 to 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising, upon receiving an MG configuration, decoding or causing decoding of an MG configured for the UE for measuring an SSB in a BWP with SSB.

[0218] Embodiment 9 may include the method according to embodiments 1 to 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the IE is a MG Configuration (MeasGapConfig) IE or a BWP Downlink IE.

[0219] Embodiment 10 may include the method according to embodiments 1 to 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the IE is to indicate one or more BWPs available for activating the MG based on the active BWP.

[0220] Embodiment 11 may include a method according to embodiments 1 to 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising receiving or causing reception of a synchronization signal from the AN, the synchronization signal comprising an SSB in a BWP having an SSB.

[0221] Embodiment 12 may include the method according to embodiments 1 to 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising determining or causing determination of an active BWP among the plurality of BWPs based on a MG configuration message from the AN.

[0222] Embodiment 13 may include a method according to embodiment 12 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the MG configuration message from the AN includes downlink control information (DCI) indicating an active BWP.

[0223] Embodiment 14 may include a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the IE further indicates one or more additional MGs for the UE, and the method further includes activating or causing activation, avoiding activation or causing avoidance of activation, or deactivating or causing deactivation of one or more additional MGs, respectively.

[0224] Embodiment 15 may include a method according to embodiment 14 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising decoding or causing decoding of a MG identification (ID) or bit string upon receiving the IE to indicate activation or deactivation of corresponding one or more additional MGs.

[0225] Embodiment 16 may include the method as described in Embodiments 1 to 15 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SSB is located in the initial BWP.

[0226] Embodiment 17 may include a method as described in Embodiments 1 to 15 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SSB is located in an active BWP.

[0227] Embodiment 18 may include a method according to embodiments 1 to 17 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SSB includes a group of SS blocks.

[0228] Embodiment 19 may include a method comprising generating or causing generation of an IE that will indicate activation of an MG configuration (MeasGapConfig) or BWP downlink of the MG based on an active BWP; and transmitting or causing the IE to be transmitted to a UE via RRC signaling.

[0229] Embodiment 20 may include a method according to embodiment 19 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein, in order to transmit the IE, the method further includes generating or causing generation of a configuration message of the IE including BWP downlink information to indicate an active BWP for the UE; and transmitting the configuration message to the UE or causing the configuration message to be transmitted to the UE via DCI signaling.

[0230] Embodiment 21 may include a method according to embodiment 19 or 20 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the MeasGapConfig IE or the BWP downlink IE further includes one or more additional MGs configured for the UE.

[0231] Embodiment 22 may include the method described in Embodiments 1 to 21 and / or some other embodiment herein, wherein the method is performed by a UE or a part thereof.

[0232] Embodiment 23 may include a method comprising: generating or causing generation of an information element (IE) of a measurement gap (MG) configuration (MeasGapConfig) or bandwidth part (BWP) downlink based on an active BWP, which IE will indicate activation of the MG; and transmitting the IE to a user equipment (UE) via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or causing the IE to be transmitted to the UE.

[0233] Embodiment 24 may include a method according to embodiment 23 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising generating or causing generation of a configuration message including an IE of BWP downlink information to indicate an active BWP for the UE; and transmitting the configuration message to the UE or causing the configuration message to be transmitted to the UE via downlink control information (DCI).

[0234] Embodiment 25 may include a method according to embodiment 23 or 24 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the MeasGapConfig IE or the BWP downlink IE also includes one or more additional MGs configured for the UE.

[0235] Embodiment 26 may include a method according to embodiments 23 to 25 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method is performed by an access node (AN) or a portion thereof.

[0236] Embodiment 27 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0237] Embodiment 28 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, wherein the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media include instructions that, when one or more processors of an electronic device execute the instructions, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26 or any other method or process described herein.

[0238] Embodiment 29 may include a device comprising logic components, modules and / or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 26 or any other method or process described herein.

[0239] Embodiment 30 may include a method, technique or process as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26, or a portion or component thereof.

[0240] Embodiment 31 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 26.

[0241] The present disclosure is described with reference to the flowcharts or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems) and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each block of the flowchart illustration or block diagram, as well as the combination of blocks in the flowchart illustration or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device create a device for implementing the function / action specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart or block diagram.

[0242] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium, which can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce a manufactured article including instruction devices, which implement the functions / actions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart or block diagram.

[0243] Computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus so that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide a process for implementing the functions / actions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart or block diagram.

[0244] The descriptions of the implementations shown herein, including the implementations described in the Abstract, are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Although specific implementations and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the relevant art, various calculations may be performed to achieve alternative or equivalent embodiments or implementations for the same purpose, based on the above detailed description, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer readable media (CRMs), the one or more non-transitory CRMs comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: The capability of configuring the measurement gap MG activation for the UE is used to activate the configured MG; upon receiving a message from the access node AN, decoding the MG information element IE, said MG IE configuring the active bandwidth part BWP, and configuring the MG in the configured BWP; Activate the configured BWP to become the active BWP; activating the configured MG in the active BWP for measurement of a synchronization signal block SSB in an initial BWP, the initial BWP being different from the active BWP, wherein the initial BWP contains the SSB for measurement and the initial BWP is configured to the UE for initial access to a primary cell PCell or is configured to the UE to operate when a secondary cell SCell is activated; as well as The SSB in the initial BWP is measured during an intra-frequency measurement with the MG activated.

2. The one or more non-transient CRMs of claim 1, wherein to activate the MG, the instructions further cause the UE to determine that the active BWP is different from the initial BWP.

3. One or more non-transient CRMs according to claim 1, wherein in order to activate the MG, the instruction further causes the UE to determine that the active BWP and the initial BWP have different carrier frequencies or subcarrier spacings SCS or both carrier frequencies and subcarrier spacings.

4. One or more non-transient CRMs according to claim 1, wherein the instruction further causes the UE to determine that the active BWP is the same BWP as the initial BWP, or the active BWP and the initial BWP have the same carrier frequency and subcarrier spacing SCS, and the UE will avoid activating the MG.

5. The one or more non-transient CRMs of claim 1 , wherein in order to activate the MG and measure the SSB with the MG, the instructions further cause the UE to: During the intra-frequency measurement, measuring the SSB relative to a carrier frequency and a subcarrier spacing SCS of the initial BWP; and Switching to the active BWP is avoided during the intra-frequency measurement.

6. The one or more non-transient CRMs according to claim 1, wherein in order to avoid activating or deactivating the MG and measuring the SSB without the MG, the instruction further causes the UE to: During the intra-frequency measurement, measuring the SSB relative to a carrier frequency and a subcarrier spacing SCS of the initial BWP; and Transmitted to or received from the AN in the active BWP during the intra-frequency measurement.

7. One or more non-transient CRMs according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the instructions, when executed, will further cause the UE to decode the MG configured for the UE upon receiving the MG configuration for measuring the SSB in the initial BWP.

8. The one or more non-transient CRMs according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the MG IE is a MG configuration MeasGapConfig IE or a BWP downlink IE.

9. One or more non-transient CRMs according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the MGIE is to indicate one or more BWPs that can be used to activate the MG based on the active BWP.

10. The one or more non-transient CRMs according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the instructions, when executed, will further cause the UE to determine the active BWP among a plurality of BWPs based on a MG configuration message from the AN.

11. The one or more non-transient CRMs of claim 10, wherein the MG configuration message from the AN includes downlink control information (DCI) indicating the active BWP.

12. One or more non-transient CRMs according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the MGIE will further indicate one or more additional MGs for the UE, and the instructions when executed will further cause the UE to activate the one or more additional MGs respectively.

13. The one or more non-transient CRMs according to claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, will further cause the UE to decode the MG identity ID or bit string upon receiving the MG IE to indicate activation or deactivation of the corresponding one or more additional MGs.

14. One or more non-transitory computer readable media CRM, said one or more non-transitory CRM comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of an access node AN, cause said AN to: indicating to a user equipment UE that the UE is granted the capability to determine activation of a configured measurement gap MG; Generate a measurement gap MG information element IE or an active bandwidth part BWP downlink IE of a measurement gap MG configuration MeasGapConfig, wherein the MG IE indicates a configured BWP, and the MG is configured in the configured BWP, the BWP can be activated to become an active BWP, wherein the configured MG will be activated in the active BWP for measuring a synchronization signal block SSB in an initial BWP different from the active BWP, wherein the initial BWP contains the SSB for measurement, and the initial BWP is configured to the UE for initial access to a primary cell PCell, or is configured to the UE to operate when a secondary cell SCell is activated; and The MG IE is transmitted to the user equipment UE via radio resource control RRC signaling.

15. The one or more non-transitory CRMs of claim 14, wherein in order to transmit the MG IE, the instructions further cause the AN to: generating a configuration message of the MG IE including BWP downlink information to indicate the active BWP for the UE; and The configuration message is transmitted to the UE via downlink control information (DCI).

16. One or more non-transient CRMs according to claim 14 or claim 15, wherein the MG IE or the BWP downlink IE of MeasGapConfig further comprises one or more additional MGs configured to the UE.

17. A user equipment UE, comprising: An interface circuit, the interface circuit will: Decoding the measurement gap MG information element IE of the downlink bandwidth part BWP BWP-Downlink, the MG IE configures the active bandwidth part BWP, and configures the MG in the configured BWP; and A processing circuit, the processing circuit is coupled to the interface circuit, and the processing circuit is configured to: Activate the configured BWP to become the active BWP; activating the configured MG in the active BWP for measurement of a synchronization signal block SSB in an initial BWP, the initial BWP being different from the active BWP, wherein the initial BWP contains the SSB for measurement and the initial BWP is configured to the UE for initial access to a primary cell PCell or is configured to the UE to operate when a secondary cell SCell is activated; as well as measuring the SSB in the initial BWP during an intra-frequency measurement with the activated MG; Based on activating the configured MG, the SSB in the initial BWP is measured during an intra-frequency measurement with the activated MG.

18. The UE according to claim 17, wherein the processing circuit is further to: determining that the active BWP is different from the initial BWP; and If the active BWP is different from the initial BWP, the MG is activated per BWP.

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